For the fourth year in a row, millions of people around the world will Stand Up and Take Action to show their support for the fight against poverty and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This year Stand Up will take place against the backdrop of a deepening financial crisis and a slowing global economy.

It is a time of great challenge for development in general and the MDGs in particular. Already we are seeing the potentially devastating impact of this on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable. We know that the current economic climate threatens to undo and possibly even reverse the very significant gains that have been made towards achieving the MDGs. With just six years left to the 2015 deadline for the achievement of the Goals, we cannot afford to let this happen.

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After releasing a policy brief entitled, “From Commitment to Action: A Demand-Driven Approach to Improving Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa,” the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa held a discussion to explain their views on how best to address food security in Africa. Their policy brief focuses on the need for countries receiving aid to decide how best to distribute their funds. Currently, there are many aid programs spread across multiple departments of the U.S. government and the aid goes to diverse sources—from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to private businesses. The Partnership argues that a more centralized, demand-driven approach would be a more effective way to reduce hunger and poverty.

Here are the main arguments for how to accomplish this:
1. Shift the locus of decision-making to the developing countries and instill in US law the
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Aid agencies in Somalia are asking for $11 million to give the hundred of displaced people, due to fighting in the capital, emergency water and sanitation, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Over 200,000 people have left Mogadishu since early May when violence erupted due to tensions between the Government and the opposition Al-Shabab and Hisb-ul-Islam groups.

OCHA reported that more than 600,000 displaced people, settled in the Afgooye corridor outside Mogadishu, desperately needed water, sanitation and hygiene services.

Currently, Aid agencies are only able to supply two to eight liters of water per person per day in that area, while between 7.5 and 15 liters—less than one flush of an average toilet—is considered the bare minimum required for survival.

There is also only one latrine for ever 212 displaced people in the Afgooye corridor.

GlaxoSmithKline is a research-based pharmaceutical company that is working to “improve the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.” The “Positive Action for Children Fund” will grant up to $80 million over a ten-year period to NGOs and those who work to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS.

GSK will also contribute $16 million toward a public-private partnership for researching antiretroviral drugs. This fund will help find new beneficial fixed dose combinations for those suffering from HIV/AIDS. In addition, it will help lower the cost of treatment by entering into a voluntary license agreement with the South African abacavir manufacturer, Aspen Pharmacare Ltd.

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According to a case study of coffee producers in Bolivia, fair trade has the potential to make a significant impact on the anti-poverty effort. The report goes into detail about the effects of fair trade. For instance, fair trade has the potential to reduce poverty by providing competition at the level of the intermeriaries and enabling capacity-building. As a result of its poverty-reducing impact, it may have a "positive influence on conflict prevention by contributing to a reverse of cultural inequalities." Fair trade has also influenced several trends in the non-fair trade market, and thus, it may have indirectly been responsible for reducing poverty for some producers in this market. You can read the summary and the full report here (PDF).

The ONE Campaign has, for a while now, been on the front lines of the debate about the effectiveness of aid. Contrary to what Dambisa Moyo's book says about development assisance, ONE believes that aid should be improved and increased. As a guideline, they have come up with "SMART aid," a list of attributes that would make aid effective in fighting global poverty:

S - Sufficient in scale to achieve its intended goals.
M -Measurable so taxpayers and recipients can see results and monitor progress over time.
A - Accountable to the citizens of developing nations.
R - Responsive to the specific needs of the citizens for whom it is intended.
T - Transparent, to allow scrutiny by civil society and the media.

Read more on the ONE website.

The Global Food Security Act of 2009, S. 384, will authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2010 through 2014 to provide assistance to foreign countries to promote food security, to stimulate rural economies and to improve emergency response to food crises.

The bill states that the objective of U.S. policy is to promote global food security, improve agricultural productivity and support the development of institutions of higher learning. In order to uphold these goals, the Global Food Security Act of 2009 directs the president to assign a Special Coordinator for Food Security to advise the president on global food security issues and to oversee implementation of a comprehensive food security strategy. The president would be required to report on the strategy implementation to specific congressional committees each year.

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On April 29, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Representative Howard Berman (D-CA- 28) and Representative Mark Kirk (R-IL-10) introduced H.R. 2139, the “Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009,” to increase political accountability of foreign assistance.

The bill directs President Obama to develop and execute a comprehensive national strategy to advance the U.S. foreign policy goal of furthering global development. It also acts as a precursor to a larger reform effort later this year, including a complete rewrite of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.